Thursday, September 30, 2010

09/30/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, grapes


Lunch - Salad (butter lettuce, tomatoes and chicken), a few crackers, Nature Valley granola thin


Supper - leftover crock pot chicken, leftover broccoli, and my mock apple crisp made with half an apple, oat meal and light caramel dip.


Snack - almonds


Steps - 3,541

09/30/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, grapes


Lunch - Salad (butter lettuce, tomatoes and chicken), a few crackers, Nature Valley granola thin


Supper - leftover crock pot chicken, leftover broccoli, and my mock apple crisp made with half an apple, oat meal and light caramel dip.


Snack - almonds


Steps - 3,541

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

09/29/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter.


Lunch - out with a friend - had shrimp & veggie lo mien and an almond cookie.


Supper - made a crock pot chicken meal that probably had too many calories as it was made with cream cheese, cream of chicken soup and ranch dressing mix.  I did use the fat-free soup, but still, I'm sure it had a lot of calories.  However, I divided it up into four meals, so my portion was minimal.  Also had some broccoli.


Before I go to bed I will have a glass of skim milk.


Steps - 2,981

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

09/28/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter and a little orange marmalade


Lunch - I volunteer at church on Tuesdays and usually take a sandwich made with low cal. bread and fat-free meat.  I also bring along a snack size container of applesauce.  Today I had a lot of work to do and the light sandwich just didn't give me enough energy.  I had a deep need for chocolate.  The pastor usually has candy in  her office so I went investigating and she informed me that there were leftover brownies in the kitchen refrigerator.  Faster than Road Runner, I was down the hallway, into the kitchen and opening the container of brownies.  It was exactly what I needed.  That brownie gave me a boost of energy and put a smile on my face.  Sometimes, nothing but a chocolate will do.


Supper - the leftover steamed veggies from yesterday and some deli chicken.  For dessert I had some Skinny Cow ice cream.


Steps - 2,470



Monday, September 27, 2010

09/27/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, grapes


Lunch - chili, TJs Veggie & Flaxseed tortillas, Vitalicious muffin top.


Supper - small lettuce salad with tomatoes, steamed veggies, sugar-free snack vanilla pudding.


Steps - 2,265

Sunday, September 26, 2010

09/26/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and scrambled egg-beater.


Lunch - Friends & Family Day at church where the menu was hot dogs, chips, and cake.  Not the most nutritious meal, but eating outside with good conversation and laughter makes it a wonderful meal  as far as I'm concerned.


Supper - snacked on popcorn, grapes and cheese.


Steps - 2,062



09/26/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and scrambled egg-beater.


Lunch - Friends & Family Day at church where the menu was hot dogs, chips, and cake.  Not the most nutritious meal, but eating outside with good conversation and laughter makes it a wonderful meal  as far as I'm concerned.


Supper - snacked on popcorn, grapes and cheese.


Steps - 2,062



'Tis the Halloween season.......

Is it too early for the Halloween decorations?  Fall is my favorite time of the year and it always seems too short so I thought I would get out the Halloween quilts early and enjoy them a little longer.


These two quilts were made by my friend Melanie.

And this quilt is one I made years ago.

My quilting friends know that I moan and groan about my inability to do machine quilting and yet I look at this old quilt - that I quilted on my machine - and am amazed at how decent my quilting looks.  When did I get so fearful and self deprecating?

Here is a close-up of the spider web I put in the corner.
Not the best spider-web in the world, but acceptable I think. 
 (The spider is plastic.)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

09/25/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, grapes


Lunch - small side salad, small bowl of chili, the bottom of the bag stale Guiltless Gourmet Yellow Corn tortilla chips, piece of sugar-free candy


Supper - last of the leftover casserole, broccoli, Skinny Cow ice cream


Steps - 1,728 - why so low?  Spent the day working on a knitting project AND my treadmill stopped working.  Those are my excuses and I think they are darn good excuses!

Knitting.........

This old knitting project (see below), a sweater that I started in 2008 is once again on my project agenda.  I put away the project back in March 2008.  I had finished the back and was working on the front when I had to stop because I did not understand the next instruction.


In quilting, most patterns are for piecing and end up with the instruction, "quilt as desired".  For the novice quilter that instruction is daunting, impossible and frustrating.


In knitting, the same is true.  I can do a knit stitch and I can do a pearl stitch. Beyond that, I have to look at an instruction book, ask someone, or look it up on the internet.


Determined to figure out the instruction and not waste all that money that I spent on good yarn, I re-read the instructions over and over again until I was pretty sure I understood.  The stitch count was wrong, but I proceeded anyway and finished the front of the sweater.  (I hope it is correct.)


Today I started in on the first sleeve and the instruction said to "increase at the beginning and end of every fourth row."  The fourth row happened to be a pearl row.  Not one of my three instruction books had help for increasing at the beginning and end of a pearl row.  After looking at several You Tube videos and instructions from various websites, I came up with the method that made the most sense to me and went with that.  So far it is working just fine.




It has taken me years and years of being with other quilters to absorb knowledge, get ideas, and learn good skills.  I belong to the best Bee group in the world.  The women in my Bee group are so helpful and so generous in sharing good techniques, and I have learned volumes from them.


Perhaps I need to find a good knitting group if I plan to continue doing any serious knitting.  

Friday, September 24, 2010

09/24/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter


Lunch - tuna salad sandwich, chips, Nature Valley granola crisp.


Supper - salad with broccoli, cauliflower and grape tomatoes, TJs veggie & flaxseed tortilla chips, Teddy Grahams and grapes.


Steps - 4,035

Thursday, September 23, 2010

09/23/10 - Food

Breakfast - banana, toast with peanut butter


Lunch - tomato sandwich, chips, Stella Dora breakfast cookie


Supper - broccoli and leftover casserole.  For dessert I made a mini mock apple pie - four wedges of apple cut up, two tablespoons of oatmeal, one teaspoon of carmel dip, and a little water - cook in the microwave for two minutes - tasty mock apple pie!


Steps - 4,836

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

09/22/10 - Food

Breakfast - banana, toast with peanut butter


Lunch - tomato sandwich, a few chips, WW fudge bar


Supper - fresh green beans, leftover casserole from yesterday, dark chocolate plum bites.


To Munch - almonds, very small piece of Asiago cheese


Steps - 3,680

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

09/21/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter and a very small bowl of Rice Krispies with dried strawberries.


Lunch - sandwich and small container of apple sauce


Snack - Almonds


Supper - onions, corn, stewed tomatoes and baby potatoes all in a casserole.  A piece of chocolate angel food cake for dessert.


Steps - 1,359

Monday, September 20, 2010

09/20/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter


Lunch - I had the leftover 1/2 sandwich from yesterday from which I removed the meat and made a new sandwich with my whole wheat low carb bread.  Had a few chips also and some dark chocolate covered plum bites.


Supper - green salad with crab meat and some Pringle Whole Wheat Crisps.


Dessert at a friend's house - some kind of cream puff with strawberries and chocolate and a teaspoon of nuts and four little jelly bellies.  


Steps - 3,429

Top finished.....

Top finished just in time for Bee tonight.

This is a lesson in contrasts.  The olive green blocks do not have enough contrast and the blue with the large print does not work.  However, it is DONE (except for the quilting) and will be a charity quilt - and I learned that although some fabrics look good together, they do not necessarily work well if the block needs high contrast.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

09/19/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter and a banana


Lunch - catered lunch at church - a turkey sandwich (I ate one half), a small bag of chips, and a chocolate cookie (I ate one third).


Supper - I opened a can of "light" vegetable noodle soup.  Awful.  Simply awful.  I had a few spoonfuls and threw the rest out.  (It is time to make my own vegetable soup - with fresh veggies and tasty broth.)  Had a few crackers with cheese and some True North almond clusters.


After sitting in Sunday School, sitting in Church, sitting at the church luncheon, and sitting all afternoon at a church meeting, then sitting at my computer when I got home because I'm too tired to much else after a night of just three hours sleep.............well, my steps are only 1,962.  

Saturday, September 18, 2010

09/18/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter, grapes


Lunch - spinach salad with a hard boiled egg, a few crackers, and an apple for dessert.


Supper - went to a birthday party at Famous Daves so I had onions and catfish from the appetizer tray, one rib, some pulled pork, a bite of beef, a spoonful of baked beans, two spoonfuls of cole slaw, a third of a corn muffin, three big fat french fries, and a small piece of cake.  Good eats. Good conversation.


Steps - 3,807

Friday, September 17, 2010

09/17/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with an egg


Mid-morning snack - Nature Valley Thin Crisp


Lunch - the last of the leftover macaroni & cheese, some chips.


Supper - lettuce salad with crab meat and a few crackers.  Dessert, Skinny Cow ice cream.


Steps - 3048

Thursday, September 16, 2010

09/16/10 - Food

Breakfast - one piece of toast with an egg and one piece of toast with peanut butter - just trying to get my protein ! ! ! 


Lunch - a church ladies luncheon - I had quiche (only ate half of it) with veggies (I ate all the veggies) and fruit (I ate all the fruit) and a muffin (took home).


Afternoon treat - Starbucks Pumpkin Latte - small


Supper - the leftover macaroni and cheese, only I was full from the coffee so I ate less than half and now I have leftovers for tomorrow too.  Full, yes - but there is always room for ice cream so I had a WW fudge bar.


Now for the steps - I must explain - I sat ALL DAY.  Sat at the luncheon, sat in Barnes & Noble, sat this evening at a quilt guild meeting.  I tried to get more steps in by parking at the end of the restaurant parking lot and at the last place furtherest from the Barnes & Noble door, but still I fell far short of yesterday's number.  Sigh.  I know that I could go get on the treadmill for 10 minutes and bring the number up, but I'm ready for bed, my knee is hurting today, and I'm just going to accept that the number is low and I will do better tomorrow.


Steps- 2,636 (+10 to the kitchen to turn out the lights and +10 to the bedroom)

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

09/15/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and an egg


Lunch - leftover sandwich from yesterday, chips


Supper - in the fridge was a bowl of leftover macaroni that was not appetizing at all.  I wanted to add some canned tomatoes to give it more flavor, but I did not have canned tomatoes in the house.  Instead, I added mild salsa.  I also added some chopped cooked broccoli.  Then I baked it again for 10 minutes in a very hot oven.  The new macaroni & cheese dish was excellent.  And I have enough leftover for tomorrow night!  Dessert was a piece of chocolate angel food cake.


All my life I have either been dieting or gaining weight. Today I realized that one of my hopes in doing this blog has become reality.    My hope was to learn how to eat normally - no dieting and no overeating.  If I lost some weight along the way, it was a bonus.  I have learned how to stop when I am full.  I have learned what foods to grab when I feel like snacking.  Am I completely cured?  Oh my goodness, NO.  But I am aware, mindful, and feeling in control.


EXCEPT - I don't exercise, or move enough.  I don't want to set myself up for failure by declaring that I am going to start an exercise regime.  That would have to be categorized as a miracle.  However, I am going to start reporting my "steps" each day just like I report my food intake.  All along I have been wearing a pedometer to kind of see what I average for daily steps.  I know that we are "supposed" to do 10,000 steps a day.  Well, my average is pitifully far away from 10,000 steps.  On a good day I do about 2,000 steps.  I know that is not good - that I should be moving more.  Here are my 10 top excuses for not walking more.


10.  It is too hot outside.
9.    It is too cold outside.
8.    It is raining outside.
7.    My knee hurts.  
6.    I'm too busy.
5.    I'll do it later.
4.    I'll do it tomorrow.
3.    I'm waiting for a phone call.
2.    I don't want to wear out my treadmill.
1.    I'm extremely lazy! ! ! ! 


Therefore, good or bad, I will report my steps each day right before I go to bed, so please add 10 steps to my report as it is ten steps from the computer to my bedroom.  Thank you.


Steps today - 2,930

Progress........

All the sashing is sewn onto the blocks and the first two rows are sewn together.  Tomorrow I will be out of the house most of the day, so I hope to finish up this quilt top on Friday.  Border?  I'm pulling and auditioning fabrics, but may decide it is finished without a border.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

09/14/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter


Lunch - sandwich at a friend's house 


Snack - TJs veggie sticks


Supper - Panera's chicken chop salad (did not finish it and did not eat the bread)

Monday, September 13, 2010

09/13/10 - Food

Breakfast - This morning I decided to have something different - oatmeal.  I mixed up an envelope of apple cinnamon oatmeal, adding a dollop of peanut butter, and cut up a banana on the top.  I ate the banana, but didn't care much for the oatmeal.  I love oatmeal cookies, but oatmeal for breakfast just doesn't seem to appeal to me. So I had one piece of toast with peanut butter.


Lunch - egg salad sandwich and some chips.  Skinny Cow ice cream for dessert.


Supper -  I was in the mood for comfort food.  I had a package of macaroni and cheese waiting for just such an emergency.  However, I should have known better as I am not fond of "fake" cheese - like Cheez Whiz.  This package contained a little foil packet with gooey "cheese".  I did eat a generous helping, but as I ate I kept thinking that I should have made macaroni and cheese from a recipe, not from a package.  It satisfied my hunger, but not my craving for good macaroni and cheese.  After doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, I had my dessert  - half of a nectarine.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

09/12/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter.  (At church there was a Continental breakfast, but I was not tempted because I was already full with my toast.)

Lunch - at Red Lobster.  I ate too much.  I had a fish and shrimp combination dinner and it was really, really good.  I just kept eating and eating until it was all gone.  This was after having a biscuit and cole slaw.  I was uncomfortably full.  I should have taken half of the meal home.  I should have...........

Afternoon snack - WHAT???? After being so full, why would I have an afternoon snack???  My excuse - I was reading and I wanted to finish the book and if I didn't snack on something while I was reading I would have fallen asleep.  So I munched slowly, one piece at a time, on some popcorn.

Supper - Not terribly hungry, but I decided to try one of these Vegetable Pancakes.  Very similar to potato pancakes, but with some other veggies included.  OK - but it sure would have tasted a whole lot better slathered in butter and salt.


For dessert I had half of this beautiful looking Nectarine.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

09/11/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter


Mid-morning snack - Nature Valley Granola Crisp


Lunch - egg salad sandwich, chips


For supper I had the leftover chili (which wasn't very much, but still very good), a raisin bread crisp, some Asiago cheese and a bowl of fruit.  Best meal I have had in a long time ! ! ! ! 



Quilting Practice

First thing this morning I made the binding for the black and white quilt.

Then I got out my new gadget - a Supreme Slider - and the new Magic Bobbin Washers - and set-up my machine to do some practice on machine quilting.
The stippling is getting better and the meandering circles aren't bad, but everything else is pretty sloppy.  It is easier with the slider, but I am just not steady enough, nor can I think fast enough to move in the right direction.  I tried following a drawn pattern and it was a disaster.  Not all of us have the same talents and I guess I just don't have the talent of machine quilting.  For now I'll stick to straight-line quilting.

In my inventory of unfinished projects are these blocks.  They are all kind of dark and put together make a rather dull looking quilt.  I decided that maybe sashing would help.  After trying out many many colors of sashing, I finally decided to try white.  I have seen many blogs from young quilters doing "Modern" quilts and they use a lot of white.  I cut some white fabric sashing strips to try it out and I think I like it.

In fact, the white sashing brightens it up so much it makes it like a new project and therefore will give me the incentive to finish it up!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Another new project and NO quilting......

Another new project necessitated a trip to JoAnn's to get supplies.  I cannot show pictures of what I am making because it is a secret, so I am showing the bag instead.  (I'm so clever.)

However, tomorrow I have promised myself that I will work on an unfinished project.  No more new projects.  Promise.

09/10/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with an egg

Before lunch I went to the grocery store. There was an article in today's newspaper about how we (people in the USA) do not eat enough fruit. Therefore I bought some nectarines (not ripe), bananas, and a container with pineapple and strawberries.
So for lunch I had a half bowl of chili fresh from the soup cart, a piece of bakery bread with raisins, and some of the pineapple chunks and strawberries.

Supper - At the grocery store I also purchased a frozen "P.F.Chang's Home Menu" beef with broccoli. I need to stop purchasing frozen entrees with meat. The "beef" was horrible - with gristle and the consistency of formed meat. I took two bites and that was enough. The sauce was OK if a bit garlicky. The broccoli was good. I'll save the leftover broccoli for tomorrow, but the beef part got thrown out. Also had some leftover corn & broccoli from last night. For dessert I had a Skinny Cow ice cream.

Snack - almonds.



Thursday, September 9, 2010

09/09/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and an egg

Lunch - the last of the leftover pizza and some chips

Snack - a few mini rice cakes and some almonds

Supper - a green salad with tomato and cucumber, a biscuit, and a Skinny Cow ice cream.

Start and Finish

Although there are oodles of unfinished projects in my Quilt Studio, I was not in the mood today to work on any of them. So I pulled out my book of Quilt Ideas - articles that I have torn out of magazines.

I picked out this cute Allpeoplequilt.com pattern of houses and log cabins. In my bedroom is a Grandma Moses picture of a checkerboard house, so I am making my houses in three different checkerboard fabrics. I got two houses/blocks put together and then I was ready to go back to something that needed finishing.


I put the borders on my black and white quilt -
and made a four-patch backing.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

09/08/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and an egg

Lunch - leftover pizza and some chips

Snack - none. I wanted one, but I was in my basement doing laundry and working on a project and I lived with the hunger pangs.

Supper - veggie burger cooked with an onion, broccoli & corn, slice of chocolate angel food cake.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Welcome Sign

Finished this Welcome sign a while back and just remembered to hang it up on my porch. My other sign was faded from being outside several years. This one looks all fresh and bright.Now I need to get busy and make one for Christmas.

09/07/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and an egg

Lunch - sandwich

Snack - small bowl of popcorn

Supper - this container of Japanese Noodles. Tasted pretty good although it is several hours later and I'm experiencing a lingering after-taste. Guess I better go brush my teeth!

Dessert - WW fudge bar.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Labor Day labor......

My quilting labor today was concentrated on binding. It is a big quilt so there is a lot of binding to sew down.


On the table beside my sewing chair is this new little pin cushion made by my friend Brenda. Her stitching is always wonderful and I feel lucky to have many gifts in my home stitched by her.

09/06/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter

Mid-morning snack - Nature Valley Granola Thin

Lunch - 1/2 lettuce & tomato sandwich, chips

Mid-afternoon snack- small bowl of popcorn

Supper - green salad with tomato and cucumber, baked potato

Bed-time - small glass of skim milk

Sunday, September 5, 2010

09/05/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter

Lunch - went out to an Italian restaurant with a friend. Had a small piece of bread, a spinach salad (ate half), lasagna (ate 1/4), and creme brulee (ate 1/2). Good lunch and great conversation ! ! !

Supper - an open-faced tomato sandwich and one cookie.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

09/04/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast with peanut butter and a smidge of orange marmalade

Lunch - leftover lo mien

Afternoon snack - a Java Chip light from Starbucks

Supper - leftover pizza and one cookie

Friday, September 3, 2010

09/03/10 - Friday

Breakfast - toast and an egg

Lunch - out with a friend to the restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes. Had a nice big salad, a baked potato, and a dish of dark chocolate frozen yogurt with some granola sprinkled on top.

Supper - another small portion of the lo mien

Confession - I baked some oat meal cookies this morning to give as a gift to some friends at church. I've never made this recipe before, so it was only right that I taste one of the cookies to make sure they were OK. Later on I noticed that there was a "runt" cookie that was tinier than the others and wouldn't look good in the container for my friends, so I ate the little cookie. The cookies were very good. I started to reason that they really weren't so bad to have because they were made with oats (good for you), eggs (also good for you), sugar, of which I used 1/2 Splenda. Yes, yes, I know, there was also shortening, but my reasoning again leads me to believe that shortening melts and in the hot oven it must have dissipated - like liquor. Therefore, since the cookies were not all that bad, they must be good and it would be OK to have one more. My mouth and tummy are very happy.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

09/02/10 - Food

Breakfast - toast and an egg

After breakfast and before my shower, I decided to weigh myself. A few days ago I had weighed myself and was pleased to see that I was slowly but steadily losing weight. So when the scale today showed that I had gained 3-1/2 pounds, I was devastated. Have I ever gotten on the scale to see a surprise 3-1/2 pound loss? No. The losses come in 1/2 pound increments. However, I can gain 2 pounds so easily in one day, and now it seems that I can gain 3-1/2 pounds very easily also.

I cried during my shower. Why me? Poor me. I'll never fit into those clothes stored in my basement. I might as well give up and eat whatever I want. Who cares? I'm just a fat slob and will always be a fat slob.

Slowly and reluctantly my sensible reasoning began to return. I'm not trying to lose a lot of weight quickly - I'm trying to learn how to stop when I am full, not overeat, and not depend on food to numb me against life in all it's ups and downs.

However, it was time to have some "normal" food - in sensible portions - but give myself a little taste of good food.

So for lunch I heated up a pizza that has been in my freezer for a long time. 1/4 of the pizza was listed as 340 calories. Yes, I ate just that recommended portion - 1/4 of the pizza. The rest is in the fridge. I also had a few chips while I waited for the pizza to heat up. No dessert.

For supper - I just happened to be passing my favorite restaurant on the way home from the hairdresser. I got veggie egg rolls and my favorite garlic chicken lo mien to go. However, I asked for the garlic chicken lo mien without any chicken. Crazy, I know. I just have not been liking meat lately. Garlic chicken lo mien is made with onions, green peppers, lo mien noodles, and yummy garlic sauce. It is perfect without the chicken. The portions from this restaurant are enormous, so I only ate one egg roll and about 1/4th of the lo mien. (My fridge now has three meals of pizza and at least three more lo mien meals.) For dessert I had one fortune cookie.

I am vowing right here on this blog that I will not weigh myself again for at least a month. The lesson learned today is that it is not about what the scale says, it is about learning how to eat sensibly. Period. End of story.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

09/01/10 - Food

Breakfast - Toast

Lunch - no more tomatoes, but I still had the fresh-from-the-garden cucumbers, so I cut up one and made a dip.
Put some TJs Veggie & Flakseed Tortilla chips on a paper plate, covered the chips with low-fat cheese, and zapped it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
A Nature Valley granola thin finished off the meal.

Supper - green beans, mashed potatoes, slice of chocolate angel-food cake.

Snack - almonds